The Storm and the Dragon
by J-Rocker Girl
Summary: post series; Vash and company run into a slight problem. Knives is back and he has back up. Hooray for sci-fi westerns! -warning: sroty is more interesting than summary-


Disclaimer: see bio

AN: how handy bio-based disclaimers are...anyways. I didn't like the first experiment of writing a Trigun fic...so...after some more experimenting with rpg's and thinking some things through....i've found the solution! Start over again!!...from the very beginning... So here you have it. For those of you who are confused...don't worry about it.

Chapter 1

"What do you think, Jaan?" a balding man in a travel coat asked his partner, a blond-haired woman in a lab coat.

The woman smiled as she looked from the Plant back to her colleague. "I'd say you've got a deal, brother." She looked back at the two small infants in the Plant. "We'll show the world what technology—not resources—can do."

"So, as soon as we can gather the rest of the team...." the man started.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Jake."

A year later

Jaan stood proudly over her completed mission, so to speak Okay, okay, so the last year had caused her a few gray hairs, but it was worth it. "How are you feeling today, Talon?" she asked.

The black-haired girl just glared at her with piercing red eyes. "Like I just came out of surgery, how else should I feel?" she sneered.

"It was for your own good." She tried to feel energetic and supportive, but the past year had been so hectic, if successful. For some reason, the two girls that came out of the Plant only a year ago looked like they were ten. Their hair had grown just as fast as they had and their personalities were completely different. These next few minutes were going to be hard, though.

"Is that why I have a splitting headache? And what are you doing here? Usually your asleep after a 'hard day's work.'"

Jaan took a deep breath. "You know we used two different approaches with you and your sister..."

(AN: this is a change of point of view)

Jade suddenly woke out of the daze the scientists had put her in...Was it her imagination or was she floating in something...green? She looked around and noticed a little fizzing and bubbling...acid? They had put her in the failure room?! She felt just fine...

She shook her head and swam to the surface and breathed in fresh air. "Hello?" she called out. This must have been a mistake...no matter. She leapt to the rim with what footing she could get and looking all around...then looked at herself...clothes would be nice. As if something had heard her thoughts, green and black travel clothes appeared. They felt like they were custom-made, too!

Her red eyes looked around one more time.

They really had rejected her. Even her sister. "I guess it's time for a whole new start..." she muttered as she leapt to the floor. "Bye, Talon..." she said as she ran out of the huge doom and out into the desert.

"Yes, I know perfectly well your stupid little plan, Jaan, now what did you have to tell me?" Talon demanded.

"Well, as you can tell, your operation turned out perfectly fine! Your sister's, though..." the woman stalled with nervous glances.

"You killed her, didn't you?"

"You see, one small tiny mistake can lead to disastrous results."

Talon didn't say anything, just gave Jaan the most penetrating death glare she could muster.

All of a sudden, Jaan straightened up. "Now, see here, we did the best we could with bringing you two up and giving you a home. We don't even know why you were born inside a Plant! The only thing we do know is—"

"You know nothing, you pitiful human! The reason we were born inside that thing was to destroy the human race! Didn't you notice something different about the atmosphere around that one?!"

"True, it was rather polluted, and the creature inside the Plant was shaped differently, but—"

"But nothing! You knew you were making a huge mistake from the beginning!" Talon's scowl suddenly turned to a smirk as she saw the fear in the woman's eyes. She smiled even more as she felt her outstretched arm form into a gun. "And that mistake will cost you and your comrade's lives..."

Jade blinked as she heard an explosion on the horizon. Apparently the operation had given her super speed...right now, that didn't matter, though. She turned to the horizon and saw a bright red light streak from the dome out towards the sky. Was that Talon? It couldn't be!

She and Talon didn't have the power to do that...did they?

Far into the future, Vash the Stampede, the Humanoid Typhoon, the demon in the shadow of the debris of July...was being beat up by a girl whose life mission was to sell insurance.

"Stupid!!" she shrieked as she smacked him over the head. "You just exhausted our last funds on DOUGHNUTS?! If you still had that bounty on your head I'd turn you in to the authorities in the blink of an eye!!

"Couldn't you have at least gotten ONE cup of pudding, Vash-kun...?" Millie asked with a pathetic look.

"Hey, hey, lighten up, girls!" Vash said with a reassuring grin. "We still have enough doughnuts to last a few days!"

"More like a few minutes with you!!"

"Look, girls...Knives escaped after his wounds were taken care of and we lost track of him..." His serious face suddenly turned to a very cheesy grin. "I need some comfort food!!"

Talon watched from a nearby roof as the small black-haired woman beat mercilessly on the tall blond man. So that was Vash the Stampede, the man destined to save the human race. In other words, her enemy.

All of a sudden, Vash looked up from the black-haired girl's wrath. Seemed she was being sensed. 'I suppose that's my cue," she thought as she teleported away.

Knives stared around his garden. Things were so dull since he had finally gotten his annoying brother out his hair. How disappointing. He'd have to do something about that very soon. But what? He had done so many new and inventive things in the past...it was hard to think of something better...

He looked up as he felt something strange enter his garden. That was weird. A tall, black-haired woman was standing right in front of him. But there was something different in her...she felt like...him, but different.

The woman's long black coat shifted as she turned to face him. A gloved hand reached up and took off her dark shades. "Millions Knives?" she asked with searching red eyes.

(AN: whew! First chapter...again...that was much better than the other if I do say so myself. Now that I've got more of a feel for the characters and know what I'm doing, it's turnin' out to be better than the original!)


End file.
